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Thursday, 15 April 2010

Glenn Beck seeks public's advice on cover of new novel

[Beck] described the novel as "a story of America in a time much like today where the people are confused", where the government is in crisis and a citizens' group called Founders Keepers is on the ascendant, leading to "a battle and a civil war, and life is upside-down planetwide".

Fox News host Glenn Beck is asking for reader input on the cover of his forthcoming Ayn Rand-esque novel about an embattled America.

The apocalyptic political thriller, The Overton Window, is out in June from Simon & Schuster's conservative US imprint Threshold, which also publishes Karl Rove and Lynne Cheney. Threshold is home to a range of Beck's previous writing, including Arguing with Idiots ("It happens to all of us: You're minding your own business, when some idiot informs you that guns are evil, the Prius will save the planet, or the rich have to finally start paying their fair share of taxes") and his previous novel The Christmas Sweater, about a boy who learns a tough lesson when he's given a handmade jumper for Christmas.

Beck revealed details about his new book late last month to an Orlando rally of 8,000 followers, reported the Philadelphia Daily News. He described the novel as "a story of America in a time much like today where the people are confused", where the government is in crisis and a citizens' group called Founders Keepers is on the ascendant, leading to "a battle and a civil war, and life is upside-down planetwide".

The right wing presenter, whose influence over America's book charts is huge, today asked readers to vote on which cover the novel should be given, ranging from the Statue of Liberty with what appears to be a gun in her hand, to a Colossus of Rhodes-esque statue towering over the New York skyline.

Beck has taken the title of his book from a political concept of how extreme ideas can become mainstream. Gawker was unimpressed. "Glenn Beck naming his Ayn Rand (another radical fringe lunatic who's been successfully made mainstream over the last 40 years) rip-off novel after the political science theory that made his success possible is just a lovely thought, isn't it?" said the website.

Quotes

We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the same sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart. -H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)

Scars

We who have lost have no physical sign, no outward scar that says, 'Look, oh look, can you not see? I have lost so much.' The scars are inside. Our drug-riddled, ill, tattooed or emaciated [or obese*] bodies become our scars; our ineptitude at completing goals or overcoming addictions, our tendency to sit in support groups or slice at our skin or fail at life - these are our ways of showing our loss.
-- Ingrid Poulson, "Rise"
* my addition